The PR industry is enjoying a new age of credibility. How long that lasts may depend on the industry’s response to the web and new media.
Last year an online war of words broke out between two heavyweight PR thinkers from the US; Brian Solis - president of award-winning PR agency FutureWorks, and PRWeek - the industry-leading trade magazine for the PR industry. Rather unintentionally, their debate characterised the opportunities and challenges faced by the new PR.
The story began with Brian blogging that PR had reached “2.0″ status: “It is because of the Web… The evolution of the Web has forced communications professionals to step out from behind the ‘great wall of PR’ to interact with people formerly known as the audience.” PR 2.0 provides opportunities to “engage directly with a new set of accidental influencers”, “talk with customers directly”, and establish a more “conversational dialogue” with audiences. This sea-change is so great that this new age equates to second generation PR, Brian argues.
A few days later PRWeek ran an article which overlooked Brian and PR 2.0 completely, instead claiming “PR 3.0″ is where it’s at. The publication argued that the PR industry has already lived through its second age, during which it has evolved from more traditional media roots towards fulfilling additional functions more closely connected and important to corporate strategy. It was this evolution that brought the industry forward to its third age, in which PR is a mature, confident industry that has become an indispensable part of so many organisations. Their argument was based on evidence of PR’s new found credibility at board-level, and on the industry’s growth in revenue and staffing over the past decade.
After several passionate exchanges both sides in the debate began to agree. They first put aside the ‘dot oh’ number lunacy to concentrate on what influence the digital age has had on PR. PRWeek admitted they had glossed over the importance of the web and new media to the PR industry of today. And Brian admitted that even though the web has had a huge influence on PR, many industry professionals still don’t “get it” when it comes to the web and new media. In the end, they concluded that PR’s old challenges have been largely overcome, but new ones have taken their place.
The lessons learned during this debate hold great resonance to this day. Today, you might agree that the PR industry is a new-and-improved version of itself, with a consistent track record for delivering tangible results. But today, PR faces a whole new set of challenges from the web and new media. These new communications channels are already offering opportunities for some, but many in the industry still don’t “get it”. That fact alone may damage PR’s new found reputation as a key deliverer of objectives, if too many mistakes are made on the road to web and new media enlightenment.
A 2005 study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research found that the PR industry in the UK employs over 48,000 people, with more than 80 per cent working in-house. That’s lots of people who need to adapt all at once. In-house PR professionals must look forward to new media and the web to stay competitive, but they must also maintain focus on the good things they are already doing. Businesses that outsource PR to specialist agencies may stay closer to the pulse of next generation PR, but like their in-house counterparts, they must not let their PR people get too carried away with web and new media mania. The PR of the last ten years - the good work that’s given PR its stellar reputation - must not be forgotten.
PR has evolved, but it has a lot yet to learn. The web and new media provide new opportunities, but only for those who really understand how to rise to the challenge. A future filled with failed web and new media PR initiatives may do more harm than good to an industry still enjoying its new found credibility. That means PR professionals must look past the hype, and begin to really understand where new communications methods sit within the new PR’s toolbox.
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